Refrigerator.



No; 645,2I0. Patented Mar. 13, I900.

H; B. MuRnocK.

REFRIGERATOR.

(Application filed Edy 10,, 1899.) (No Model.)

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WITNESSES.

.dttorneys NITED STATES PATENT Fries.

HORACE B. MURDOOK, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF THREE- FOURTI-IS TO PETER A. JOYOE FRANK T. JOYCE, AND FRANK J.

REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 645,210, dated March 13, 1900. Application filed May 10,1899. Serial No. 716,209. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HORACE B. MURDOOK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne, State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters-of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to portable refrigerators especially designed for cooling the interior of meat-boxes and refrigerator-cars; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out particularly in the claim.

The object of the invention is to provide a refrigerator of simple and inexpensive construction, whereby the interior of a meat-box may be cooled to such a temperature as to insure the keeping of the meat therein and in which the arrangement is such as to effect a circulation of air within the meat-box, so that said air may be kept dry and pure and the box prevented from becoming foul and musty. This object is attained by the device illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a sectional view of a meat-box, showing this improved device in operation therein, the refrigerator-case appearing in elevation. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through said refrigerator-case. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section, as on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4. is a plan view of the refrigerator-case.

Referring to the letters of reference, A des ignates the refrigerator-case, which may be of any suitable shape, but is herein shown as rectangular. This case comprises an ice-containing chamber 13. This ice-chamber Bis divided from the rear wall B of the case by a zigzag wall 0, which separates the ice-chamher from a cooling-chamber D, formed between said zigzag wall and the rear wall of the case. The wall 0 extends from the top to the bottom of the case transversely thereof said chamber.

of and is adapted to receive the ice contained in the ice-chamber against its inner face. The rear wall B of the case terminates some distance above the bottom thereof, forming a discharge-opening a at the lower end of the cooling-chamber D.

The ref rigerator-case is seated in a suitable drip-pan E, which is mounted upon a base F, said drip-pan having a discharge-pipe b. The bottom Gof the ice-chamber is raised, forming a cold-air space G below it. A cock 0, communicating with the interior of the ice-chamber, enables the accumulated water from the melted ice to be drawn from said chamber.

Air-pipes H extend from the opposite upper corners of the ice-box -I downwardly to the refrigerator-case and communicate at their lower ends with the cooling-chamber D. A larger air-pipe J extends upwardly from said cooling-chamber and thence laterally to a point adjacent to and slightly above the top of the door K of the ice-box, said pipe being provided with a large flaring end portion L, the purpose of which is to take up the warm air which enters the ice-box when the door is opened and convey it through the pipe J to the cooling-chamber.

It will be understood that the ice-chamber B is adapted to be filled with ice and salt in the proper proportion. The presence of said ice and salt in the ice-chamber cools the air withinthe cooling-chamber D, thereby increasing the specific gravity thereof, causing said air to pass downward in said coolingchamber and out at the opening a at the base This downward draft of air within the cooling-chamber creates a partial vacuum within the air-pipes H and J, so that the warmer air in the upper part of the ice-box is drawn into said pipes and carried downward therethrough into the coolingchamber, from the bottom of which it is discharged at a low temperature, owing to the fact that the air in its downward passage through said chamber comes in contact with the sides of the zigzag wall 0 crossing said chamber against which the ice in the ice-box is lying, whereby the air is not only cooled, but the moisture therein is extracted because of the contact of said moisture with the Walls of said chamber, to which it adheres in the form of frost. The cold air discharged from the cooling-chamber seeks the lower stratum of the ice-box, but is gradually drawn upward by the circulation created through the air-pipes H and J, whereby a constant moveinent of the air within the boxis maintained, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, preventing the accumulation or lodgment of foul air in any part of the ice-box. This circulation of the air also maintains a more uniform temperature within the ice-box, for the reason that a warm stratum of air at the top of the box is obviated.

By reason of the zigzag formation of the dividing-wall C a greater surface is presented for action upon the downwardly-moving current of air, whereby said air is cooled to a lower temperature in its passage through the cooling-chamber than would be possible were said dividing-wall of straight formation.

The exterior of the refrigerator-case A also becomes exceedingly cold, and the air in the box which comes in contact therewith is made cold, so that the temperature of the box is maintained at the requisite point to properly keep the meat. The area of the dripsurface of said case from falling upon the floor of the box.

By means of this improved refrigerator an ice-box may be maintained at the requisite temperature with the use of but a comparatively-small amount of ice, owing to the fact of the rapid circulation of air maintained within the box which equalizes the temperatu re and obviates the formation of an undulycold stratum of air at the bottom of the box.

Having thus fully set forth this invention, what is claimed is- In a refrigerator for meat-boxes, the combination of the case having a wall crossing said case transversely from side to side forming an ice-chamber therein at one end and a cooling-chamber adjacent to the ice-chamber, a covering for the top of said cooling-chamber, a pipe having a flaring opening leading from a point adjacent the door of the ice box and entering the top of the cooling-chamber,

the wall of said cooling-chamber having an opening therethrough at the bottom communicating with the exterior of the case for the discharge of the cooled air.

In testimony whereof I sign this specifica= tion in the presence of two witnesses.

HORACE B. MURDOGK.

Witnesses:

F. J. PEDDIE, O; B. BARNZIGS. 

